Air France and Airbus have denied responsibility for an A330 crash into the Atlantic which killed everyone on board.
A total of 228 people died when AF447 plunged into the sea during an equatorial storm en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on June 1, 2009.
Air France and Airbus have denied accusations that their negligence had led to the crash.
The heads of both companies pleaded not guilty to “involuntary manslaughter” as a French criminal court opened the trial of Air France and Airbus on Monday.
Airbus blames pilot error for the crash while the French carrier claims confusing alarms and data overwhelmed the pilots, Reuters reported.
Lawyers warned against allowing the long-awaited trial – which is going ahead after a decision to abandon the case in 2019 was overturned – to sideline relatives of the 33 nationalities represented on AF447, mainly French, Brazilians and Germans.
“It’s a trial where the victims must remain at the centre of debate. We don’t want Airbus or Air France to turn this trial into a conference of engineers,” said lawyer Sebastien Busy.
The nine-week trial at Paris Criminal Court runs until December 8.
It is the first time French companies have gone on trial for “involuntary manslaughter” following an air crash.